UK Men’s Tennis Begins ITA Ohio Valley Regional Play

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Coming off a collection of its most successful individual performances of the Fall 2019 season in its last outing at the Louisville Invitational, the Kentucky men’s tennis team heads to Music City, USA, on the campus of Vanderbilt University for the beginning of the 2019 ITA Ohio Valley Regional Championships on Thursday.
 
The annual competition is scheduled to run through next Tuesday. The Wildcats will send eight of their nine eligible competitors to the event, earning seven different rankings at its onset. Junior Kento Yamada leads the way as the No. 4 singles player, while senior César Bourgois (No. 16), freshman Gabriel Diallo (No. 18), sophomore Kevin Huempfner (No. 21), junior Millen Hurrion (No. 22) and freshman Alexandre Leblanc (No. 23) head into their respective first-round matchups as favorites, as well. Yamada and Bourgois enter Thursday as the Ohio Valley’s No. 7 doubles pair.
 
“The team is really excited to be here at Regionals,” said Bourgois. “After a couple good weeks of practice, we’re ready to compete. It’s great for the team to spend a couple days on the road like this, as it’s our first trip with most of the team. We’re looking forward to giving our best on the first day.”
 
LeBlanc will take on Northern Kentucky’s Nathan Schwartz at noon ET, followed by sophomore Ying-Ze Chen versus Vanderbilt’s No. 6 George Harwell, Yamada versus Indiana’s Payam Ahmadi, Huempfner versus Lipscomb’s Pedro Uribe, Hurrion versus Purdue’s Julian Saborio, senior Parth Aggarwal versus Tennessee State’s Juan Carlos Rojas Antezana, Diallo versus ETSU’s Miguel Este and Bourgois versus Dayton’s Matthew DeMarco after Yamada and Bourgois wrap up doubles play against Ahmadi and the Hoosiers’ Andrew Redding.

Aggarwal and Huempfner will also be competing on the doubles court versus Sean Bailey and Ethan Mardanus-Budiono of IUPUI, while Chen and Yamada will play Ball State’s Thibault De Negri and Danilo Kovacevic. The final pair of Diallo and LeBlanc will take on Tennessee’s Andrew Rogers and Finn Stodder.
 
For the latest on the Kentucky men’s tennis team, follow @UKMensTennis on Twitter and Facebook, @kentuckymenstennis on Instagram, and follow along on the web at UKAthletics.com.